Rampant Arsenal grow old gracefully

ARSENE WENGER turns 58 today and he will be celebrating the only way he knows how: by watching football.

Tuning into Newcastle versus Tottenham Hotspur might not be every man’s idea of a perfect birthday but, for one of the game’s great obsessives, it is the only option. “It’s a day like every other day,” he observed. “I was never a great celebrator of birthdays so I will have a quiet night in and maybe a glass of wine. Luckily my wife enjoys football.”

Birthdays are ominous reminders of the passage of time, but Wenger — for all the deep wrinkles and silver shock of hair — has no reason to fear the future. He is being kept young by the blossoming talents in his third great Arsenal side and, while this was far from a picture-book performance, it did prove that the north Londoners have the stomach for a Premier League title fight.